Stateline Western Australia

Growing Frustration Over The Rush-Hour Crush

With motorists feeling pain at the petrol bowser, there are signs that an increasing number are leaving their cars at home and taking the train instead.

But the exodus from the roads, coupled with a rapidly growing population means these public transport converts are feeling the squeeze.

With passenger numbers predicted to grow further, by at least 50 per cent over the next five years, the State Government is now being accused of dragging its heels over advice it was given in 2004 to buy more trains.

Rebecca Boteler braved the rush-hour crowds to find out how the system is coping.

TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT: Doors closing.

REBECCA BOTELER: If you've ever caught the train during peak hour, this is nothing new.

The train system has 175,000 boardings every day, and the number is growing rapidly.

Kerrin Simmonds is among the masses who start their working day wedged into a train carriage. She catches the train from the northern suburb of Edgewater on one of the most crowded lines. Her frustration starts before she even gets on board with a futile search for a parking spot.

COMMUTER 1: You never get into the non-payment one. It's in all stations. Whitfords as well, it's terrible.

COMMUTER 2: Very frustrating. It makes me miss the train.

COMMUTER 3: I do find it frustrating and there are times when I have to ring up my girlfriend and get her to pick me up and drop me off.

COMMUTER 4: Very frustrating. But now I know where to park, not in the car park because I can never get in.

REBECCA BOTELER: Despite the lack of parking spaces here, for the commuters driving is sometimes the only option. There's not a connecting bus in sight.

KERRIN SIMMONDS: My car got taken off the road for a couple of weeks a few years back and I was finding I had to catch the train to Whitfords and then a bus home from there. I was working late at that stage.

It was taking nearly two hours to get home.

REBECCA BOTELER: At other stations on the northern line like Warwick, commuters have developed a DIY parking scheme by crowding the surrounding streets.

Commuters say there are times when they can't get on a train and even if they can, they can't get a seat.

REBECCA BOTELER: You used to catch the train at Stirling, how did you find that?

KERRIN SIMMONDS: It was pretty bad. I suppose by the time the trains got there they were pretty much completely full. So you would watch one or two trains go past before you could get on to them.

REBECCA BOTELER: But not everyone is unhappy. Those who get on near the beginning of the line are greeted with near-empty carriages.

COMMUTER 5: Getting on at Currambine, there is always a seat and parking.

REBECCA BOTELER: How do you find the parking?

COMMUTER 6: No, I walk. I use it as my exercise, I walk 2kms to the train and 2kms back.

REBECCA BOTELER: The State Government acknowledges the system is running at peak capacity. Passenger numbers have increased 50 per cent over the past 10 years.

Transport experts say the Government has been caught short, despite being warned four years ago that population growth and soaring oil prices would dramatically increase demand on the system.

DAVID WORTH, SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT COALITION: Many of us remember from the 1970s...

REBECCA BOTELER: Sustainable transport specialist David Worth says not only did international oil experts warn of the likely increase in fuel prices, a special committee was formed to advise the Government on how public transport could cope with growing demand.

That committee worked on a submission that the Minister Alannah MacTiernan took to Cabinet in mid-2004, which included a recommendation to buy more trains.

DAVID WORTH: Unfortunately the Gallop Government didn't pick up any of the recommendations. So we've lost four years of planning.

ALANNAH MACTIERNAN, TRANSPORT MINISTER: It's a question of also balancing the competing demands. There are people out there, we will have the RAC saying we should be building more roads, we will have the nurses saying we should be building more hospitals.

REBECCA BOTELER: Two years after receiving the committee's recommendation, the Government did order 45 rail cars but by then the waiting times for new trains to be built had blown out. They won't even start to come on line until the end of this year.

ALANNAH MACTIERNAN: We've been caught short by the lack of manufacturing capacity because we made a decision, we were hoping to be able to get cars at the end of 2007. That has not been possible.

REBECCA BOTELER: Only two companies build trains to Australian standards and with every state government in the country clamouring to provide more public transport, the waiting time has now blown out even further to four years.

The Government is basing its forward planning on a 50 per cent increase in passenger numbers in the next five years. But Dr Worth says it could be double that.

DAVID WORTH: Our predictions are that we face a dire situation in the next two years and we could see a 100 per cent growth in the usage of our public transport system and it won't cope.

REBECCA BOTELER: How do you find the overcrowding on the trains?

COMMUTER 7: I am pregnant so it really sucks, not pleasant at all and very rarely get a seat.

REBECCA BOTELER: The sheer number of people moving to WA is also increasing demand on the train system. Figures show the population is growing by almost 650 people every week.

Many are settling in outer suburbs where residents will have to rely more and more on public transport as prices at the bowser force them to leave their cars in the garage.

COMMUTER 8: It's pretty shocking at the moment. I find it annoying.

DAVID WORTH: Some people are able to cope with $1.50, $1.60 a litre. It's unlikely that as many will be able to cope with $2 a litre. So you could see an extraordinary growth in demand for public transport.

REBECCA BOTELER: More trains aren't the only solution being suggested. Some groups believe we should follow the example of Melbourne and offer free public transport to commuters before 7am.

ALANNAH MACTIERNAN: We will have a look at it. But from some of the information we've had back that in terms of what it's delivered has not been great compared to the revenue foregone and that's revenue that you can't use to put more services on.

REBECCA BOTELER: However, the Minister does say peak hour time tables will be extended in the evenings from next month.

As for the parking hassle, the Minister says 1,500 more bays will be built at stations along the northern line and car parks will be increased on the other lines where they can, but at some stations there is simply nowhere to expand.

ALANNAH MACTIERNAN: That's true and that is why we don't, we have feeder bus services coming in to park and ride stations. We are trying to get the logistics right.

REBECCA BOTELER: For commuters like Kerrin Simmonds, it seems there is not much light at the end of the tunnel.